A Sneak Peek at the Next Generation of IEEE Spectrum

We're opening up the beta version of our new website so we can start getting your feedback

2 min read

A Sneak Peek at the Next Generation of IEEE Spectrum

A lot of planning and testing goes into creating a new web site and we want our readers to be part of it. That’s why we’ve launched the beta version of our new site, which won't be fully completed until May. Keep in mind that it's a true beta version—if you see things that look broken, it's probably because we're still fixing bugs and adding features. If you spot a bug, or have a complaint or feature request, let us know by using the UserVoice widget in the lower left corner. You can also vote on the suggestions of other readers. We'll be using this feedback to help guide our remaining development priorities

On the beta site, one of the first things you’ll notice is that it sizes to fit your screen, whether you’re viewing it on a TV, desktop monitor, laptop or tablet. If you don’t see something that grabs you on the first page of our homepage or topic pages, you can load more stories, as many as you want. We’ve given you various ways to explore our treasure trove of technology news and analysis like a rich navigation menu that lets you explore engineering topics, special reports, multimedia, our award winning magazine and sponsored content including our popular webinars and whitepapers. You’ll notice that our search results page provides better sorting and filtering controls to help you find exactly what you’re looking for the first time around.

Our content pages have been revamped to be easier to read, with bigger, more legible fonts and a wider content well. Our videos and podcasts are presented in a big, bold format and our blogs have been spiffed up with new landing pages and logos. We’ve switched to a new commenting system powered by Disqus that we think is going to facilitate even more lively discussions.

We also have a number of other features in the works. We’re going to let you sort the modules on our homepage by recency and what other readers find most interesting right now. In addition, we’ll be adding some filters to let you drill down to exactly what you want to see on our homepage and topics pages. We’re going to tighten up the header to reveal more content above the fold and we’re going to redo the bottom of our content pages so they are more readable and easier to navigate. The first column to the right of the content well will all be content related to the item you’re reading so a deeper dive is just one click away. We’ll also be adding our entire print magazine archive going back to 2000.

While we still have lots of work to do, we'd like to get your feedback on what we've got so far. So, take the new site for a spin, and let us know what you think. On the lower right corner of every page, you'll also find a toggle that allows you to switch back and forth between the current site and beta version on any page.

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